Griders Sue Bissey Over Murder * They Hope To Find A Reason For The Slaying.

June 19, 1997|by LAURI RICE-MAUE, The Morning Call

Carl and Joan Grider sued their daughter's killer Wednesday in hopes of finding out the motive for the murder.

The Bethlehem couple's attorney, Edward Shaughnessy, filed the lawsuit in Northampton County Court against Christopher Michael Bissey, who is serving two life sentences for shooting to death Jennifer Grider, 17, and Mary Orlando, 15, also of Bethlehem, at the Lehigh University Lookout nearly two years ago.

Mrs. Grider said the couple is not motivated by money. Instead, she said, they want more answers than Bissey's criminal trial provided.

"Basically, my point I want to get across is, this is far from being a financial reason," said Mrs. Grider in a telephone interview Wednesday. "It's a personal reason. My husband and I feel that through a civil trial, maybe we'll get more answers as to the real motive."

The wrongful-death-and-survival action charges Bissey with negligence and battery for the death of Jennifer, a Bethlehem Catholic High School student, and seeks punitive damages in excess of $50,000.

According to the suit, Bissey, an inmate at Graterford State Prison, "willfully, maliciously, unlawfully and intentionally killed and murdered Jennifer M. Grider under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life."

More than five months went by after the June 29, 1995, murders before Bissey, now 20, was charged with the deaths. Kenneth Dorney of Allentown, who had been Orlando's boyfriend, led police to the Salisbury Township man that December.

When Dorney finally came forward, he told police that Grider told him she was to meet Bissey at the Lookout that night and she feared for her life because she owed Bissey $400 for drugs. But that issue was not raised during Bissey's November trial, and Dorney was never called to testify, because of his fragile mental state.

The Griders have questioned the motive Dorney provided, saying their daughter had access to inheritance money had she needed it. And autopsies on both girls showed no evidence of drug use.

Dorney's mental problems, which included stays in psychiatric units, also have led the Griders to question his credibility, said Mrs. Grider.

The case drew national attention and was featured on television magazine shows.

Because of that, the Griders are concerned that Bissey could somehow benefit financially from the death of their daughter.

"I don't think it's fair that he could exploit the situation and possibly make money on a book or a movie," said Mrs. Grider. "It's something he shouldn't be proud of, and it's something he shouldn't be bragging about. That does terribly upset us."

However, in 1995, Pennsylvania enacted a law that prohibits people accused or convicted of crimes from profiting from the sale of their cases for books or movies. Victims may stake a claim to the money that criminals might otherwise receive from telling their stories.

Bissey bragged about committing the murders and labeled himself as "buff" (masculine) because of them, according to trial testimony by those who partied with Bissey that summer.

Bissey was convicted after a three-week trial in October and November. Eleven of the jurors wanted him to die for his actions, but one woman -- apparently moved by his claim of innocence, tearful pleas for his life and testimony about his abusive childhood -- refused to vote for the death penalty.

According to the suit, Bissey arrived at the Lookout between 8:45 and 9:15 p.m. and, from the front passenger seat of a car, fired out the window at Jennifer, hitting her in the buttocks and back and causing fatal internal injuries.

Then, he got out of the car and walked toward Orlando, who jumped over the stone wall where she and Jennifer were sitting and eating fast food. Orlando fled for shelter in the red Camaro Jennifer drove to the Lookout.

He fired several more shots that hit and killed Orlando.

The suit, filed by the Griders individually and as administrators of their daughter's estate, says Bissey should have known that a fatality would occur when he aimed the loaded weapon at Jennifer.

"The actions of the defendant were outrageous, without legal cause or justification, inhumane and were intended to cause harm" to Jennifer, the suit says.

The Griders, who live at 601 Laufer St., were listed as Jennifer's survivors. In addition to being deprived of her companionship, they suffered $9,578 in pecuniary losses for funeral and estate administration expenses, says the suit.

The suit said Jennifer would have lived another 63.2 years and because of her death her estate has been deprived of income she would have received had she lived to her life expectancy.